U.S. Ranks Down to Fifth Position in Global Competitiveness: WEF Report

The United States now ranks fifth, overtaken by Sweden and Singapore in the 2011-2012 rankings of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness report, released on Wednesday.

While Switzerland still leads the table, Finland moves to fourth position in the current index from last year's sixth spot.

According to the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), United States is facing a continuous decline that began three years ago, falling one more position to fifth place.

U.S. companies are highly sophisticated and pioneering, it also has an outstanding university system, Worlds Economic Forum report (WEF) said on Wednesday.

However, “a number of escalating weaknesses have lowered the U.S. ranking in recent years,” it added.

In comparison to last year, WEF assessed policy making as less transparent and the regulations as more burdensome.

WFE pointed out that the lack of macroeconomic stability continues to be the United States’ greatest area of weakness.

It also mentions that rapid increase public indebtedness is adversely affecting the country’s future growth, as over the past decade, the country has been running repeated fiscal deficits.

WEF points out that United States needs to take necessary steps to restore the growth. It says United Kingdom has also returns to the top 10 as it recovers from the crisis.

The WEF said that “Switzerland’s scientific research institutions are among the world’s best, and the strong collaboration between its academic and business sectors, combined with high company spending on R&D, ensures that much of this research is translated into marketable products and processes that are reinforced by strong intellectual property protection.”